Drugs useful in breast cancer prevention include:
A. RaloxifeneThe P-2 trial, the Study of Tamoxifen and Raloxifene (known as the STAR trial), randomly assigned 19,747 postmenopausal women at high risk for breast cancer to receive either tamoxifen or raloxifene. The initial report of the P-2 trial showed the two agents were nearly identical in their ability to reduce breast cancer risk, but raloxifene was associated with a more favorable adverse event profile. An updated analysis revealed that raloxifene maintained 76% of the efficacy of tamoxifen in prevention of invasive breast cancer with a more favorable side-effect profile. Aromatase inhibitors (Ais) have been shown to be more effective than tamoxifen in reducing the incidence of contralateral breast cancers in postmenopausal women receiving Ais for adjuvant treatment of invasive breast cancer.